Using link structure for suggesting related queries

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided for determining related queries for a given search query based on the linking structure of electronic documents within a document set. Document titles are used to represent potential search queries and links between the electronic documents are used to determine relationships between the potential search queries. As such, the document set may be represented as a directed graph in which document titles (which represent potential search queries) are nodes and links are edges between the nodes. When a particular search query is received, a corresponding node is identified and related queries are determined by identifying other nodes having connections with that node.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/761,038, filed Jun. 11, 2007, which is herein incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Many search engines provide query suggestion functionality in which auser, having entered a particular search query, is given a set ofsuggested queries related to the user's search query. These relatedqueries may be helpful if the search results of the user's search querydo not contain the information the user was seeking and one of therelated queries will provide useful search results. The user may selectone of the related queries causing a search to be performed using theselected query and search results to be returned to the user. In somecases, related queries may be useful even when users find what they werelooking for by getting the users interested in other topics to explore.

A variety of different approaches and algorithms have been employed fordetermining related queries for a given search query. For instance,related queries may be suggested that have a short edit distance fromthe given search query or that contain similar words. Another approachsuggests related queries based on terms occurring in the search resultdocuments for the given search query. Further approaches suggest relatedqueries based on the similarity of result documents between searchqueries.

However, a common problem for the various approaches is determiningrelated queries that are relevant and useful. For instance, suppose thata search query is “Tom Cruise.” Based on this search query, “KatieHolmes” would most likely be a relevant related query as peoplesearching for documents associated with “Tom Cruise” are likely to beinterested in information associated with “Katie Holmes.” Alternatively,“Dream Cruise” would most likely be an irrelevant related query aspeople searching for documents associated with “Tom Cruise” are mostlikely not searching for information on seagoing holidays.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Embodiments relate to an approach in which related queries for a givensearch query are determined based on the linking structure of electronicdocuments within a document set. The electronic documents within thedocument set are scanned, and document titles and links among theelectronic documents are extracted. A directed graph in which thedocument titles are nodes and the links are edges between the nodes isthen generated.

The directed graph may be used for determining related queries for agiven search query by using the document titles to represent potentialsearch queries. When a search query is received, a first nodecorresponding with the search query is identified. Nodes surrounding andhaving connections with that first node are identified as relatedqueries. The related queries may be provided to a user, who may employthe related queries to refine a search and obtain useful and relevantsearch results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to theattached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing environment suitablefor use in implementing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for determiningsuggested related queries based on linking structure within a documentset in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary linking relationships between documents ina document set;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary system in which embodiments ofthe present invention may be employed;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing an exemplary method for generating adirected graph for facilitating the determination of related queries forgiven search queries in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing an exemplary method for determiningsuggested related queries for a given search query in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative screen display showing a search input box fora search engine in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 8 is an illustrative screen display showing a search results userinterface including suggested related queries for a given search queryin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of the present invention is described withspecificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, thedescription itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent.Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject mattermight also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps orcombinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, inconjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover,although the terms “step” and/or “block” may be used herein to connotedifferent elements of methods employed, the terms should not beinterpreted as implying any particular order among or between varioussteps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individualsteps is explicitly described.

As indicated above, embodiments of the present invention relate to anapproach for providing related queries for a given search query assuggestions to refine a search and receive relevant and useful searchresults. Related queries for a given search query are determined basedon the linking structure of electronic documents within a document set.The document set may be any grouping of electronic documents having alinking structure, and in some embodiments, is a high-quality documentset from a trusted data source. To employ the linking structure of thedocument set to provide related queries, the title of each document isused to represent a potential search query and linking between thedocuments represents relationships between these potential searchqueries. Links between documents may be explicit, such as hyperlinks, orimplicit, such as content similarity.

In an embodiment, the electronic documents within the document set arescanned, and document titles and links among the electronic documentsare extracted. A directed graph in which the document titles are nodesand the links are edges between the nodes is then generated. Thedirected graph may be used for determining related queries for a givensearch query. When a search query is received, a first nodecorresponding with the search query is identified. Nodes surrounding andhaving connections with that first node are identified as relatedqueries. The related queries may then be provided to a user, who mayemploy the related queries to refine a search and obtain useful andrelevant search results.

Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention, an embodiment is directedto a computerized method for providing related queries for a searchquery. The method includes receiving the search query. The method alsoincludes determining one or more related queries for the search querybased on the linking structure of electronic documents within a documentset, wherein titles of the electronic documents represent potentialrelated queries. The method further includes communicating at least aportion of the one or more related queries for presentation to an enduser.

In another embodiment of the invention, an aspect is directed to one ormore computer-readable media storing computer-useable instructions that,when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform amethod for providing related queries for a search query. The methodincludes receiving the search query. The method also includesdetermining one or more related queries for the search query based onthe linking structure of electronic documents within a document set,wherein titles of the electronic documents represent potential relatedqueries. The method further includes communicating at least a portion ofthe one or more related queries for presentation to an end user.

A further embodiment of the invention is directed to one or morecomputer-readable media storing computer-useable instructions that, whenused by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform amethod for providing related queries for a search query. The methodincludes receiving the search query. The method also includesidentifying the search query as corresponding with a title of a firstelectronic document within a document set having a plurality ofelectronic documents. The method further includes determining relatedqueries based on titles of other electronic documents within theelectronic document set having a relationship with the first electronicdocument based on links among the plurality of electronic documents. Themethod still further includes communicating at least a portion of therelated queries for presentation to an end user.

Having briefly described an overview of the present invention, anexemplary operating environment in which various aspects of the presentinvention may be implemented is described below in order to provide ageneral context for various aspects of the present invention. Referringinitially to FIG. 1 in particular, an exemplary operating environmentfor implementing embodiments of the present invention is shown anddesignated generally as computing device 100. Computing device 100 isbut one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intendedto suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Neither should the computing device 100 be interpreted ashaving any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combinationof components illustrated.

The invention may be described in the general context of computer codeor machine-useable instructions, including computer-executableinstructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer orother machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handhelddevice. Generally, program modules including routines, programs,objects, components, data structures, etc., refer to code that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Theinvention may be practiced in a variety of system configurations,including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, general-purposecomputers, more specialty computing devices, etc. The invention may alsobe practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote-processing devices that are linked through acommunications network.

With reference to FIG. 1, computing device 100 includes a bus 110 thatdirectly or indirectly couples the following devices: memory 112, one ormore processors 114, one or more presentation components 116,input/output ports 118, input/output components 120, and an illustrativepower supply 122. Bus 110 represents what may be one or more busses(such as an address bus, data bus, or combination thereof). Although thevarious blocks of FIG. 1 are shown with lines for the sake of clarity,in reality, delineating various components is not so clear, andmetaphorically, the lines would more accurately be grey and fuzzy. Forexample, one may consider a presentation component such as a displaydevice to be an I/O component. Also, processors have memory. Werecognize that such is the nature of the art, and reiterate that thediagram of FIG. 1 is merely illustrative of an exemplary computingdevice that can be used in connection with one or more embodiments ofthe present invention. Distinction is not made between such categoriesas “workstation,” “server,” “laptop,” “hand-held device,” etc., as allare contemplated within the scope of FIG. 1 and reference to “computingdevice.”

Computing device 100 typically includes a variety of computer-readablemedia. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable mediamay comprise Random Access Memory (RAM); Read Only Memory (ROM);Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); flashmemory or other memory technologies; CDROM, digital versatile disks(DVD) or other optical or holographic media; magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other storage medium that can be used to encode and store desiredinformation and be accessed by computing device 100.

Memory 112 includes computer-storage media in the form of volatileand/or nonvolatile memory. The memory may be removable, nonremovable, ora combination thereof. Exemplary hardware devices include solid-statememory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, etc. Computing device 100includes one or more processors that read data from various entitiessuch as memory 112 or I/O components 120. Presentation component(s) 116present data indications to a user or other device. Exemplarypresentation components include a display device, speaker, printingcomponent, vibrating component, etc.

I/O ports 118 allow computing device 100 to be logically coupled toother devices including I/O components 120, some of which may be builtin. Illustrative components include a microphone, joystick, game pad,satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram is provided illustrating anexemplary system 200 for suggesting related queries using link structurein accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. It should beunderstood that this and other arrangements described herein are setforth only as examples. Other arrangements and elements (e.g., machines,interfaces, functions, orders, and groupings of functions, etc.) can beused in addition to or instead of those shown, and some elements may beomitted altogether. Further, many of the elements described herein arefunctional entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributedcomponents or in conjunction with other components, and in any suitablecombination and location. Various functions described herein as beingperformed by one or more entities may be carried out by hardware,firmware, and/or software. For instance, various functions may becarried out by a processor executing instructions stored in memory.

The system 200 facilitates determining related queries for a receivedsearch query by employing a link structure contained in a document set202. The document set 202 may generally include any set of electronicdocuments 204, such as web pages, for instance, having some explicit orimplicit linking relationship among the documents. The document set 202may be maintained by one or more computing devices, such as web servers,for instance, accessible by an extraction component 206. In someembodiments, the document set 202 is a high-quality set of documentsfrom a trusted and structured data source, such as an encyclopedia, aproduct shopping site, a dictionary, or a highly structured website. Ithas been determined that by employing a high-quality document set from atrusted and structured data source, linking between documents issignificantly more reliable such that highly relevant related queriesmay be determined for a given search query. In particular, a source thatis trusted and has an enforced structure may provide high qualitydocument titles as nodes and a generated graph that is both consistentand trustworthy. Alternatively, an untrustworthy and/or unstructuredsource, such as the web in general, for instance, presents the problemsof a lack of consistency in how authors create pages and a lack of trustsince there is no way to ensure that content authors adhere to anystandards.

The extraction component 206 scans the documents 204 within the documentset 202 and extracts the title of each document. For instance, in thecase that the document set is an electronic encyclopedia, each documentor page within the encyclopedia document set may contain information ona given subject and include a title for that subject. Accordingly, theextraction component 206 scans the encyclopedia documents and extractsthe title of each subject document within the encyclopedia document set.The title of each page represents a potential query.

The extraction component 206 also extracts links among the documents 204within the document set 202. In particular, the extraction component 206scans the content of each document to identify links. In variousembodiments, the links may be explicit links between documents and/ormay be implicit linking relationships between documents. Explicit linksamong documents may include hyperlinks. For instance, an explicit linkbetween two documents may be determined by identifying a hyperlink toone document that is included in the content of another document,expressly indicating a relationship between the two documents. Implicitlinks among documents 204 in the document set 202 may be inferred basedon document content other than actual hyperlinks between documents. Forinstance, a link between two documents may be inferred based on thesimilarity of language or other attributes of the content of the twodocuments.

A variety of direct and indirect linking relationships may be extractedfrom the document set 202 by the extraction component 206 and used tofacilitate the determination of suggested related queries for a givensearch query. By way of example only and not limitation, FIG. 3graphically illustrates several direct and indirect linkingrelationships between a first document, Document 1, and a seconddocument, Document 2. Direct links between Document 1 and Document 2 areshown at 302 and 304. For instance, as shown at 302, Document 1 includesa link to Document 2. At 304, Document 2 has includes a direct link toDocument 1. Indirect links between Document 1 and Document 2 areillustrated at 306, 308, 310, and 312. As shown at 306, Document 3includes links to both Document 1 and Document 2 (co-citation),indicating an indirect relationship between Document 1 and Document 2.Conversely, as shown at 308, Document 1 and Document 2 each include alink to Document 3, also indicating an indirect relationship between thetwo documents. As further examples, 310 and 312 also illustrate indirectlinking paths between Document 1 and Document 2. At 310, Document 1includes a link to Document 3, which in turn includes a link to Document2, indicating an indirect relationship between Document 1 and Document2. The converse indirect relationship is illustrated at 312. Furtherembodiments may employ even longer paths of indirect linking.Additionally, one skilled in the art will recognize that a variety ofadditional linking relationships may be identified between documents 204with the document set 202.

A graph generating component 208 uses the extracted titles and linksamong the documents 204 in the document set 202 to create a directedgraph 210, in which each document title (which represents a possiblerelated query) is a node and the links are edges between the nodes. Insome embodiments, a single directed graph may be generated thatincorporates all types of links among documents 204 in the document set202 as the edges between nodes. In other embodiments, multiple directedgraphs may be generated from the document set 202, with each directedgraph incorporating a different particular type of link as the edgesbetween nodes.

The directed graph 210 may be employed to determine suggested relatedqueries for given search queries. As indicated previously, relatedqueries for a given search query may be suggested to help refine auser's search and obtain more relevant and useful search results. Forinstance, as shown in the system 200 of FIG. 2, an interface component214 may be provided for receiving a search query 216. As one skilled inthe art will recognize, the search query 216 may comprise one or moresearch terms typically entered by an end user, although search terms maybe automatically provided in some embodiments. Additionally, theinterface component 214 may receive the search query 216 in a number ofdifferent ways. By way of example only and not limitation, a user mayemploy a web browser to navigate to a search engine web page and enterthe search query 216 in an input box on the web page. Additionally, auser may enter the search query 216 in an input box provided by a searchengine toolbar located, for instance, within a web browser, the desktopof the user's computing device, or other location. One skilled in theart will recognize that a variety of other approaches may also beemployed to allow the interface component 214 to receive the searchquery 216.

Based on the search query 216 received at the interface component 214, asuggestion component 212 determines suggested related queries for thesearch query 216 by employing the directed graph 210. In an embodiment,given the search query 216, a node in the directed graph correspondingwith the related query 216 is identified. Related queries are thendetermined by examining the paths between that node and other nodes inthe directed graph. In some cases, multiple connection types may existbetween two nodes. For instance, two nodes may be directly linked andmay also both link to a common other node. Additionally, many of thesame connection-types may exist between two nodes. For instance, theremight be numerous nodes that link to both nodes (i.e., numerousco-citations indicating a relationship between the two nodes).

In a simple embodiment, the number of connections between nodes issimply summed, and the nodes having the greater number of connectionsare determined to be more relevant. However, some connection-types maybe considered more important than others. For instance, in anembodiment, direct links may be considered the most informative type ofconnection, and co-citation (i.e., where a third node links to bothnodes) is the second most informative. Accordingly, in some embodiments,an informativeness weight is applied based on the type of link betweennodes. For instance, in an embodiment, a direct link may receive thegreatest weighting, a co-citation may receive the next greatestweighting, and other types of connections may receive the lowestweighting. Additionally, when multiple directed graphs are employed,different weightings may be applied to each graph. The different weightsapplied to different connection-types and directed graphs may be tunedmanually or using machine learning techniques. For instance, feedbackloops and other mechanisms may be applied to cause self-learningnetworks to adjust their weightings and other processing to generatemore accurate and better quality related search query suggestions forsearch queries.

The related queries 218 determined by the suggestion component 212 arereturned via the interface component 214. In embodiments, the relatedqueries 218 are returned in conjunction with search results for thesearch query 216. For instance, in addition to providing the searchquery 214 to the suggestion component 212 for determining the relatedqueries 218, the search query 212 may also be provided to a searchengine component 220, which determines search results for the searchquery 216. In some embodiments, one or more of the related queries 218(e.g., the most highly relevant related queries) may also beautomatically provided to the search engine component 220 to determinesearch results for those related queries. The search results for thoserelated queries may then be directly included inline with the relatedqueries 218 in addition to the search results for the search query 216.

In embodiments, the related queries 218 may be presented in an orderbased on rankings determined by the suggestion component 212 or othercomponent. The rankings may be based, for example, on the degree ofrelevance to the search query 216 for each of the related queries 218based on the relationships in the directed graph 210. In someembodiments, all related queries determined to have a minimum level ofrelevance to the search query 216 are provided. In other embodiments,only the N most relevant related queries are provided (e.g., the fivemost relevant search queries). In further embodiments, if one or morerelated queries are determined to have a significantly higher relevancethan other related queries, only those related queries with thesignificantly higher relevance are provided to the end user. Any and allsuch variations are contemplated to be within the scope of embodimentsof the present invention.

The related queries 218 may be provided by the interface component 214via a search results user interface that may include a hyperlink orother mechanism allowing for the user selection of a related query.Accordingly, when a user selects a particular related query, theinterface component 214 may receive the selection and the search enginecomponent 220 may perform a search using the selected related query. Thesearch results for the selected related query may then be provided.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram is provided illustrating anexemplary system 400 in which embodiments of the present invention maybe employed. Among other components not shown, the system 400 mayinclude a search engine 402, a source device 404, and a user device 406.Each of the search engine 402, source device 404, and user device 406may be any type of computing device, such as computing device 100described with reference to FIG. 1, for example. The components maycommunicate with each other via a network 408, which may include,without limitation, one or more local area networks (LANs) and/or widearea networks (WANs). Such networking environments are commonplace inoffices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet.It should be understood that any number of content sharing servers,advertising servers, user devices, and networks may be employed withinthe system 400 within the scope of the present invention. Additionally,other components not shown may also be included within the system 400.

Source devices, such as the source device 404, may maintain a variety ofweb pages or other documents. For example, the source device 404 may bea web server that maintains one or more web pages. The search engine 402may access web page and document information by communicating with orcrawling these source devices. For example, the search engine 402 mayperiodically crawl the source device 404 to access web page and documentinformation and/or index the information. In some embodiments, thesource device 404 may serve as a trusted source of a document set. Thesearch engine 402 or a related device may access the document set,extract titles and links, and create a directed graph similar to thatdiscussed above with reference to the system 200 shown in FIG. 2.

By accessing and/or indexing web page and document information fromvarious source devices, the search engine 402 may provide searchcapabilities to user devices, such as the user device 406. Inparticular, a user may employ a web browser 410 or other mechanism onthe user device 406 to communicate with the search engine 402. Forinstance, a user may issue a search query to the search engine 402 andreceive search results. As indicated previously, the search query maycomprise one or more search terms, and the search engine 402 attempts toprovide search results that are relevant to those search terms. Inembodiments of the present invention, the search engine 402 is alsoconfigured to suggest related queries relevant to the user's searchquery to assist the user in refining the search and finding useful andrelevant search results. In particular, a user may issue a search queryvia the user device 406, and the search engine 402 returns searchresults including one or more related queries associated with the searchquery. The related queries are determined based on the link structure ofdocuments within a document set as discussed above with reference to thesystem 200 and FIG. 2. The related queries may be presented to the uservia the user device 406 in hyperlink form, allowing user interactionwith the related queries. As such, a user may select a related query,causing the search engine 402 to perform a search using the selectedrelated query and provide search results to the user device 406.

Turning now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram is provided showing an exemplaryoverall method 500 for generating a directed graph for facilitating thedetermination of related queries for given search queries in accordancewith an embodiment of the present inventions. Initially, as shown atblock 502, a relevant document set is identified. In some embodiments,the document set is from a trusted data source providing a high-qualitydocument set. For instance, the document set may be an encyclopedia orproduct shopping site.

Each of the documents in the document set may be used to represent apotential search query. As such, as shown at block 504, the documentsare scanned, and the title of each document is extracted. The title ofeach document is used represents a potential query. For instance, in acase in which the document set is a collection of product reviews, eachweb page may be a review for a particular product such that the title ofeach web page corresponds with a product name. Accordingly, the productnames extracted from the titles of the web pages would representpotential search queries.

As shown at block 506, links among the documents in the document set arealso extracted. In particular, the content of documents within thedocument set are scanned to identify links. As mentioned above, invarious embodiments, the links may be explicit links between documents,such as hyperlinks, and/or may be implicit linking relationships betweendocuments, which may be inferred, for instance, based on documentcontent similarity.

A directed graph based on the extracted document titles and links isgenerated, as shown at block 508. In the directed graph, the nodes arethe extracted document titles, which are used to represented potentialsearch queries, and the edges between the nodes are the extracted links.In some embodiments, a single directed graph may be generated, while inother embodiments multiple directed graphs may be generated based ondifferent connection-types and relationships between documents in thedocument set. Information associated with the directed graph is storedat block 510. The information may be used to determine related queriesfor given search queries.

Turning now to FIG. 6, a flow diagram is provided illustrating anexemplary method 600 for suggesting related queries for a given searchquery using the linking structure of a document set in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. Initially, as shown at block602, a search query is received. As one skilled in the art willrecognize, the search query may comprise one or more search termsentered by an end user. Additionally, the search query may be receivedat the search engine in a number of different ways. By way of exampleonly and not limitation, a user may employ a web browser to navigate toa search engine web page and enter the search query in an input box onthe web page. Additionally, a user may enter the search query in aninput box provided by a search engine toolbar located, for instance,within a web browser, the desktop of the user's computing device, orother location. One skilled in the art will recognize that a variety ofother approaches may also be employed to allow an end user to provide asearch query to a search engine.

After receiving the search query, related queries relevant to the searchquery are determined based on the linking structure of a document set,as shown at block 604. In an embodiment, information associated with adirected graph, such as that generated in accordance with the method 500of FIG. 5, may be used to determine related queries. In particular, anode in the directed graph is identified as corresponding with thereceived search query. Related queries relevant to the search query arethen determined by examining the links between the node correspondingwith the search query and surrounding nodes in the directed graph. Theconnections between the nodes are used to determine the related querieshaving the most relevance for the search query. In some embodiments,weighting may be applied based on the type of connections between nodes.

As shown at block 606, after determining related queries for the searchquery, at least a portion of the related queries are communicated forpresentation to the end user. The related queries may be ordered basedon relevance to the search query as determined by connections in thedirected graph. In some embodiments, the related queries are returnedwith a set of search results for the search query. In some embodiments,search results for one or more the related queries are alsoautomatically returned. In further embodiments, each related query maybe provided using a hyperlink or other mechanism allowing for the userselection of a related query. Accordingly, when a user selects aparticular related query, a search is performed using the selectedrelated query, and the search results for the related query may then beprovided to the end user.

By way of illustration, FIG. 7 illustrates a search input box 702 thatmay be provided, for instance, via a search engine web page. The searchinput box 702 allows a user to enter a search query for search purposes.As known in the art and shown in FIG. 7, a search engine may provide avariety of searching capabilities, including a broad web search and avariety of vertical searches. Accordingly, a number of search selections704 are provided in conjunction with the search input box 702. Byinputting a search query in the search input box 702 and selecting oneof the search selections 704, a user may cause the search engine toperform the selected type of search using the inputted search query.

In the illustrated example, the user has entered the search query {TomCruise} in the search input box 702. After entering the search query,the search engine performs a search using the search query.Additionally, the search engine determines that a number of relatedqueries are relevant to the search query. Accordingly, the search engineprovides a search results user interface 800 shown in FIG. 8. The searchresults user interface 800 includes a list of search results 802.Additionally, the search results user interface 800 includes a list ofsuggested related queries 804 determined to be relevant for the searchquery. As indicated previously, each related query may be presented inhyperlink form allowing the user to interact with the related queries,for instance, by selecting a particular related query and causing asearch to be performed using the selected related query. For instance, auser may choose to select the related query {Katie Holmes} 806 to causea search to be performed using that search query and search results tobe returned. Related queries for the query {Katie Holmes} may also bedetermined and returned with the search results.

As can be understood, embodiments of the present invention providerelated queries for a given search query using the linking structure ofdocuments within a document set. The related queries may be used torefine a user's search and facilitate returning relevant and usefulsearch results.

The present invention has been described in relation to particularembodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrativerather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art to which the present inventionpertains without departing from its scope.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above, togetherwith other advantages which are obvious and inherent to the system andmethod. It will be understood that certain features and subcombinationsare of utility and may be employed without reference to other featuresand subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope ofthe claims.

1. A computerized method for providing related queries for a searchquery, the method comprising: receiving the search query; determiningone or more related queries for the search query based on the linkingstructure of electronic documents within a document set, wherein titlesof the electronic documents represent potential related queries; andcommunicating at least a portion of the one or more related queries forpresentation to an end user.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theelectronic documents comprise a high-quality document set from a trusteddata source.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the linking structure ofelectronic documents within the document set includes explicit linksbetween electronic documents, wherein the explicit links comprisehyperlinks in text of electronic documents linking to other electronicdocuments within the document set.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thelinking structure of electronic documents within the document setincludes implicit links between electronic documents inferred based ondocument content.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one ormore related queries comprises analyzing a directed graph generatedbased on the linking structure between the electronic documents, whereinthe titles of the electronic documents are nodes and links between thedocuments are edges between the nodes.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinanalyzing the directed graph comprises identifying a first node ascorresponding with the search query and determining the one or morerelated queries by identifying one or more other nodes having arelationship with the first node.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereincommunicating at least a portion of the one or more related queriescomprises communicating the at least a portion of the one or morerelated queries with a first set of search results associated with thesearch query, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving a userselection of a related query from the one or more related queries;performing a search using the related query to obtain a second set ofsearch results associated with the related query; and communicating atleast a portion of the second set of search results for presentation tothe end user.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the linking structure ofelectronic documents within the document set includes links of differentconnection-types and wherein the one or more related queries are rankedby applying weightings to the different connection-types.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein the connection-types include direct links andindirect links.
 10. One or more computer-readable media storingcomputer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device,cause the computing device to perform a method for providing relatedqueries for a search query, the method comprising: receiving the searchquery; determining one or more related queries for the search querybased on the linking structure of electronic documents within a documentset, wherein titles of the electronic documents represent potentialrelated queries; and communicating at least a portion of the one or morerelated queries for presentation to an end user.
 11. The one or morecomputer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the linking structure ofelectronic documents within the document set includes explicit linksbetween electronic documents, wherein the explicit links comprisehyperlinks in text of electronic documents linking to other electronicdocuments within the document set.
 12. The one or more computer-readablemedia of claim 10, wherein the linking structure of electronic documentswithin the document set includes implicit links between electronicdocuments inferred based on document content.
 13. The one or morecomputer-readable media of claim 10, wherein determining one or morerelated queries comprises analyzing a directed graph generated based onthe linking structure between the electronic documents, wherein thetitles of the electronic documents are nodes and links between thedocuments are edges between the nodes.
 14. The one or morecomputer-readable media of claim 13, wherein analyzing the directedgraph comprises identifying a first node as corresponding with thesearch query and determining the one or more related queries byidentifying one or more other nodes having a relationship with the firstnode.
 15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, whereinthe linking structure of electronic documents within the document setincludes links of different connection-types and wherein the one or morerelated queries are ranked by applying weightings to the differentconnection-types.
 16. One or more computer-readable media storingcomputer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device,cause the computing device to perform a method for providing relatedqueries for a search query, the method comprising: receiving the searchquery; identifying the search query as corresponding with a title of afirst electronic document within a document set having a plurality ofelectronic documents; determining related queries based on titles ofother electronic documents within the electronic document set having arelationship with the first electronic document based on links among theplurality of electronic documents; and communicating at least a portionof the related queries for presentation to an end user.
 17. The one ormore computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the electronicdocuments comprise a high-quality document set from a trusted datasource.
 18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16, whereinthe links among the plurality of electronic documents include explicitlinks between electronic documents, wherein the explicit links comprisehyperlinks in text of electronic documents linking to other electronicdocuments within the document set.
 19. The one or more computer-readablemedia of claim 16, wherein the links among the plurality of electronicdocuments include implicit links between electronic documents inferredbased on document content.
 20. The one or more computer-readable mediaof claim 16, wherein the links among the plurality of electronicdocuments include links of different connection-types and wherein theone or more related queries are ranked by applying weightings to thedifferent connection-types.